Computers Arriving in Portland Schools in $2M Upgrade

In a $2 million technology upgrade, the Portland Public School District has purchased almost 1,000 Apple computers, most of them for elementary school teachers and students. Some computers have already been handed out, but others continue to be distributed this month, district officials said Wednesday.

The funding came from the city’s Capital Improvement Plan, approved earlier this year.

Elementary school teachers and students are getting 660 computers, while 325 new laptops are earmarked for high school students. Some of the funding will also pay to upgrade network infrastructure throughout the district and language lab workstations.

Currently, technology in the elementary schools is “completely a mishmash,” according to Trey Bachner, director of Computer Technology Services. The recently built Ocean Avenue Elementary School, for example, has relatively up-to-date technology, but other schools have computers dating back to the 1990s.